Isabella Brenda Yolanda Utuy Perez, 4, feeds a goat at a newly opened goat-raising center in the Mayan village of Aldea El Paraiso in the Guatemalan Quiché highlands on July 11, 2013. The center, hosted by Save the Children in partnership with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will help chronically malnourished children get the key nutrients they need through goat milk products to be healthy and grow. Photo credit: Susan Warner for Save the Children.
The center currently houses 85 goats (it has capacity for 300) and will serve 115 surrounding communities. Over the next three to five years, 2,200 families and more than 3,500 children will benefit from the goat center. In addition to providing milk for children, the program teaches families how to generate income year-round by raising goats and other farm animals, selling surplus milk, and making cheese and yogurt.
